Vince Camuto Homme
Vince Camuto (2014)

Vince Camuto Homme by Vince Camuto (2014) is a do-over, if I had to guess, for the lackluster reception of the eponymous masculine of two years prior. Vince Camuto by Vince Camuto (2012), also known as Original Cologne for Men, was a fairly by-the-numbers dark oriental leather sort of thing that rode the coattails of fragrances like Armani Code by Giorgio Armani (2004) or Emporio Armani He/Lui by Emporio Armani (1999). Granted, being about a decade late to that particular "dapper Italian suit" fragrance trope is a surefire way of giving yourself a one-way-ticket to bargain bin land (where the original Vince Camuto ended up), but combine this with the fact that John Vincent Camuto himself was a New York Italian-American through-and-through who worked his way up through his self-made Nine West empire should at least count for something right? I mean, it's not like this line has the same low-rent "gabagool" pastiche applied to it that ultimately plagues all cultural product from New York Italian origin right? Right?? Well, maybe not, but it's hard not to see someone like 'The Situation" from The Jersey Shore over-sprayed in this stuff and then telling the press "it's Vince Camuto, trust the process" when someone asks what he's wearing. Yeesh guys, if you're going to have a do-over, make sure what you come up with isn't worse, thanks.

So this stuff more or less comes across safer than Vince Camuto (original), disregarding the ambery leather and powdery leather spice for aquatics and aromatics. That same sort of low-key sleezeball musk is there, the stuff you expect to smell in a lot of the "musk" themed body sprays dripping with rippled abs or whatever, but the rest is much more boring than it was in the OG Vince Camuto. The opening is aquatic notes and ozone, with bits of juniper and lemon smelling like a Tom Collins spilled into your generic aquatic fragrance from Bath & Body Works. Ed Hardy Hearts & Daggers for Men (2009) tried this mixed drink with aquatic vibe too, and I didn't like it then either. The rest quickly goes downhill from there, with lavender and artemisia doing what it can to stop the tide, before the snoozefest synthetic wood notes mix with the "makeout artist" musk profile lurking beneath it all. Bits of green from fennel and sage come along after things really dry down, and eventually some cedar comes through, but it is so not worth the wait. Seriously, I had to struggle to keep this on skin that long. Besides, there are so many better cheaper aquatic options even from the likes of Nautica, and they don't have the latent BOD Man energy musk mucking it up, either. Performance is thankfully only average. Best use if I had to use this would be in summer time, hopefully too drunk to remember smelling it.

Steve Demarcado worked on this, and his name doesn't come up too often, so I am disappointed that he was wasted talent in this case, as I love what he did with Escape for Men by Calvin Klein (1993) over twenty years before. Hell, I even like Kenneth Cole New York Men (2002) better than this, and some people would string me up for saying so. Here is really just a dead horse aquatic being flogged with an out-of-place sweetened musk molecule to make it "sexy" and served up to Men's Warehouse customer I mentioned in my review for the original Vince Camuto fragrance. At with that scent, Harry Freemont imparted some sense of class and did a neat blending trick by tucking the musk (which I assume is a house thing) under the suede note. Here, the awkwardly-dosed musk just hangs out drunk and shirtless just like The Situation used to do circa 2009 when The Jersey Shore first aired. Now, I'm not saying this is the worst fragrance I ever smelled, but I wouldn't be saying this is something I'd want to smell either, for what its worth. The biggest sin here is VInce Camuto Homme crosses the streams of clubber and aquatic in ways that they need not be crossed, then serves it up in a blue version of the leather-clad bottle that has suckered in so many discount shoppers coming across the brand. It's not RICO act worthy, but still criminal. Thumbs down

Much better than I expected. Refreshing, fizzy citrus opening. With an herbal twist. Wife doesn't like the “veggie vibe”, so it'll be a straight gym frag for me, which is what I intended anyway.

The opening reminds me of one of my favorite cheapies: Lomani White Gold. Which is a multi- citrus blast with a little creamyness. VCH adds some gin and tonic accord - more tonic than gin - and then the Italian herbs.

The dry down is a surprisingly nice musk. Really nice IMO, reminding me of another fave of mine, Michael Kors Blue Extreme.

Projection must be decent - at the 90 minute mark anyway - because my wife smells me from 6 feet away. Although I did over spray it, hearing it's a weaker juice. More than a skin scent after a good workout at any rate.

One last thing is I like the packaging and the bottle! In the store on the shelf it looks kinda tacky. Same in pictures. But the blue leather - with stitching - around the bottle is well done. It's not classy per se, but it's not tacky in the least. It doesn't look like a dollar store fragrance trying and failing to look better than it is.

So at 50ml for $19.99, it's a thumbs up from me. But, if you see that Lomani for $12.99? Buy it too!

I like it. It is a blue musky jus. Synthetic, yes, but fits right in with today's mainstream generic offerings. Works as an office, safe scent. It will smell good on you even if you don't like the way it smells.
Could easily be used as room/car/closet/hamper spray, has it has no 'living' qualities. Deliberately plastic if you may. I like it none the less.

The notes are very misleading here. This basically smells like lemon and nail polish remover. Not that toxic though, actually not very chemical smelling, but the feel of those 2 aromas is still there.

It has like a white musky undertone, and it just goes nowhere, doesn't last either, but that's a good thing here, since it smells awful.

Get L'eau D'Issey instead.

What an immense boredom guys, namely the hyper generic combination of green-aromatic/calonic/metallic patterns on one side and synthetically woody/ambery notes on the other side. Vince Camuto Pour Homme sounds as a sort of ideal combination of Gaultier Le Beau Male (but Camuto Pour Homme smells in a more synthetically woody way) and Prada Luna Rossa (also Davidoff Hot Water jumps vaguely on mind for its "anyway" far sultrier muskiness), namely nothing new under the sun. There is a swirling salty-ozonic note around, a typical touch of "irony-dry" transparent booziness (I'd have said vodka but gin is the listed one) and "withered" indiscernible floral patterns around while along the way the aroma goes progressively darker towards a sweet synthetic sporty-musky-cedary substance really with nothing to add out there in the world of perfumery. I don't catch the birch tar or something particularly aromatic or resinous. The final "insistent" warm cedary-musky saltiness is almost annoying. Any disaster, a banally acceptable fragrance but nothing I'd ever go to buy. Really great packaging. Pass by.